Obama, Goodbye Forever

Some countries in Europe today and tomorrow will experience protests following the exit of President Obama and the inauguration of Donald Trump.* For example, in Berlin protests have already started at the U.S. embassy building. People arrived with posters that read, “Obama, goodbye forever!” and something about Trump and the cleansing of the White House karma. Similar events are planned tomorrow in Greece, Holland, and Italy.

What is the source of such displeasure for the ordinary and not so ordinary citizens of the European Union as President Obama leaves office? In reality – of course, refugees and terrorists. Already, honestly speaking, it isn’t clear which of these groups will produce more victims.

They could come from “poor migrants,” who beat and rape people on European streets. Or they could come from terrorists, who have successfully disguised themselves as “poor migrants” and blasted and shot up the European population.

At the same time, there is another economic cost to the White House coming from Europe. One of the largest projects of the Obama administration was the Transatlantic Trade Partnership – a project which put in jeopardy practically all national business of the European states, which the middle class of the EU did not like. The most interesting element of this example is that one can witness a catastrophic split not only in America, but also in European society.

The current majority of the European political elite “mourns the departure of Obama,” and already silently criticizes Trump, although Trump has not undertaken one real political decision. The European people are fatigued by their friendship with the United States. They expect that the arrival of Trump will further weaken that friendship.

The question of Russia and relations with it is, by the way, also on the agenda of protesters. It is understood that it is not the first point, but it is also still rather important because the current relations between Russia and the United States are reminiscent of the Cold War. In this standoff, Europe is between a rock and a hard place solely due to geography.

Already, in general, Russia has received its own “bag of problems,” in the form of food sanctions. It has cost European agriculture billions of euros, led to job losses and depressed the general mood of the electorate.

By and large, these demonstrations are not only appeals by Europeans in relation to Trump, but they are also clear signals to European politicians. Soon it will change course. Globalism and Pan Americanism eventually will not bring the European Union anything good.

And now the Europeans – at least some of them – search for hope in the political course of the euro-skeptics. Because Brexit happened, political analysts are increasingly predicting a victory for Le Pen in France and Wilders in the Netherlands. They also say that Merkel and the Christian Democratic Party are experiencing increasingly more difficult times more frequently.

Generally, it is inaccurate to claim that societies in Russia, Europe, and the United States have recently split. They have been divided for a long time. But it is now obvious that this split has occurred around the whole world, at least in parts of the West. It is the saddest result of President Obama’s administration. The global social divisions are not just affecting political views but also world views. The fact that this protest spilled over onto the streets, even in a peaceful form, is already a very significant factor.

The curious aspect of the situation is that Obama, at the beginning of his first term, was hailed as a diplomatic peacemaker. He was even given the Nobel Peace prize for his efforts to promote international peace. However, he turned out to reflect the exact opposite.

The exiting United States administration will be remembered for the endless Middle East war, aggravation of relations with Russia and China, and the bloody chaos in Ukraine, and indeed for the global, tectonic shifts in world politics from Brazil to Finland.

The world is tired of American centralism, because it means living eternally under the conditions of “controlled chaos” – a very dubious pleasure. Namely, such a model of the world eventually arose and was formed by Obama and his team. The world is tired of the constant intrusion into the sovereignty of other countries. The world is tired of being the collective satellite of the United States, indeed as anyone would be.

Trump’s interest in the world is to focus on America itself. If he does this, then even Trump could eventually become a hardened Russophobe (this cannot be ruled out, as Obama originally aimed to “reboot” relations with Russia), all for no good reason. Then there will be a chance for a very multipolar model of the world, about which Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken for many years.

Paradoxically, this multipolarity can organize the chaos, as we have witnessed around the world already for some time. We see these current protests at the American embassies around Europe. Many people not only in the United States or Europe, but in the rest of the world, are now waiting for this multipolarity to organize the chaos as well.

Editor’s note: This article was written prior to the inauguration of Donald Trump but the editors believe that its perspective remains relevant.